Motors TV vows to woo hardcore WRC fans

Motors TV vows to woo hardcore fans of the WRC when it takes over TV rights to the series in 2010

Motors TV has vowed to provide hardcore World Rally Championship fans with something different when it takes over the TV rights to the sport this season.

A three-year deal announced late last year will see the WRC move to the self-proclaimed 'High Speed TV Channel', with the channel promising daily highlights of each event over the course of the season.

That coverage will feature extensive use of on-board coverage in an attempt to take fans closer to the action, with head of programming Frederic Viger insisting it would be the only choice for fans wanting to follow the series throughout 2010.

"We are very excited about the deal," Viger told Crash.net. "WRC will be the flagship of the channel and we will try to do something different to what has been done before. We will try to promote the onboard side of things to get people to feel like they are part of the sport rather than just watching it.

"The show you see on Dave is more mainstream and you can sit and watch it with your grandmother. We'll be hitting the hardcore fans more, and that is what we have discussed with North One - making a show for people who love rallying. Other people can watch it of course, but if you love rallying, it will be the only show you wish to see."

Viger also re-iterated that Motors was commited to showing the WRC at the same time on each day of an event, so fans would always know when to catch the action.

"We will be doing a one-hour show every evening at 10.20pm so you will get all the highlights on the same day and I think that is something that UK rally fans deserve - not having to wait until the end of the event or not knowing what time the coverage will be on on other channels," he said. "We will be taking care of that and it will be 10.20pm every single day of an event and will be bang on time.

"The competition is getting tougher and there are more and more sport channels that carry more and more motorsport. It was important - and maybe even vital - for us to have a proper FIA World Championship and it is possibly one the most exciting series to have onboard."